Outside My Window ~ 2.7.10

Outside My Window…is sunshine and blue skies at 8:15 a.m..  The temperature this morning is 24ºF and a breeze creating a wind chill of 13ºF.  Our high today is forecast at 35ºF with sunny skies.  Oh, and of course……there is snow and ice.  Yes, another fun filled weekend of winter weather.  Actually this weekend was different from the last….we got more rain and sleet prior to the snow this time around.  The snow was much wetter than last weekend which resulted in more objects being covered either fully or partially with snow.  Some of the trees are quite beautiful with the snow and ice stuck to the branches.  Fortunately there is not enough ice, in my area, to cause limbs to break.  Just enough to freeze things shut…..I almost didn’t get my sliding glass door open this morning.  

I am thinking…that poor Cailin may have to wait another week before she can drive again.  As much as she wants to drive, my nerves aren’t quite ready to take a new driver out on snowy or icy roads.  I can’t even imagine that kind of terror!   😯

I am thankful for…the dividing line between a major snowfall was to the north of us.  If we had been a little further north, I would be sitting here telling you about snow in the two to four foot range and that my friends is something this area would take a long time to recover from.  To my friends in the areas that got that kind of snow, stay warm….stay safe. 

From the kitchen…is coffee brewing at the moment.  Later today, there has been a special request for a giant cream puff.  Alanna has been suffering from a cold all week and has determined this is the only thing that will make her feel better.  🙂  Later today, there could be pasta….but haven’t made up my mind as of yet.

I am creating…tidy closets, cabinets and drawers.  I have gotten so aggravated this week looking for something, running into hundreds of other things that I don’t want or need and still not finding what I was looking for.  When you live in a house as small as ours, clutter can take over quickly if you don’t stay on top of it at all times.  I am the type of person that doesn’t stay on top of it unfortunately and it takes aggravation like this to prompt me to take action.  So I have been plugging away, a little at a time to resolve this.  I have a feeling this will be a work in progress for a time. 

I am going…rearrange the furniture in the living room today.  Time for a change, although there are not too many ways I can move it around.  I can remember when I was growing up my mother would rearrange things quite a bit…..you never quite knew where things….or the location of your room…….would be at any given time.  And sometimes, everything would go back like it was after a day of rearranging because it wasn’t quite like she visioned.  I know where I get that urge to change it up from. 

I am reading…my friends blogs….some online news…..and my PSE7 book.  This isn’t the kind of book I pick up and start from the beginning and go through.  I tend to flip through “how to” books and stop on something that catches my eye, which is what I’m doing with this book.  The section I have been spending the most time on recently is how to process your photos in camera raw.  Camera raw is sometimes referred to as the digital negative.  I think back to this time last year and realize how little I actually knew about digital photography.  But as with anything else, you read all you can and you practice every day….it begins to pay off.

I am hoping…that the roads are pretty well thawed by the time Alanna has to go to work at noon today.  She drove herself last night and did alright.  I do have to give her credit, she does listen when I explain to her how the road conditions can be in difficult weather. 

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks……..the white noise from the central heat……..and birds singing outside ~ and they sound quite happy for such a frosty morning.  🙂

Around the house…papers to file…..clutter to pick up in the living room after all of us staying inside and watching movies yesterday……a few dishes to wash…normal living stuff.

Plans for the week include…perhaps another day of rain and snow on Wednesday…hopefully finally posting more photos to my Flickr account…pulling out my sewing machine and playing with that for a while. 

One of my favorite things…is walking outside before anyone else is out and about on a cold, winter morning after a snow.  I went out this morning around sunrise to take some photos and there is something about the quiet beauty of a morning after a snowfall.  Times like this I wished I lived out in the middle of nowhere….someplace where you could step outside and take in all the beauty of your surroundings without benefit of other buildings or city noise.

A picture I’d like to share with you…a few from this last nor’easter.  I will not be sitting in the backyard again today……

And our unofficial measurement for this storm…..